Advance Care Planning or Advanced Care Directives
Create your Advance Directive forms to make sure your medical wishes are honoured.
Advanced Care Planning
Advance care planning involves planning for your future health care. It enables you to make some decisions now about the health care you would or would not like to receive if you were to become seriously ill and unable to communicate your preferences or make treatment decisions.
Advanced care planning gives you the opportunity to think about, discuss and record your preferences for the type of care you would like to receive and the outcomes you would consider acceptable. Advance care planning helps to ensure your loved ones and health providers know what matters most to you and respect your treatment preferences.
Ideally, advance care planning will result in your preferences being documented in a plan known as an advance care directive and the appointment of a substitute decision-maker to help ensure your preferences and wishes are respected.
Advance care planning doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does require careful consideration. It involves thinking about your values and preferences for care and acceptable outcomes, talking about them with others, appointing someone to make decisions on your behalf and documenting everything.
Why do I need to fill out an Advance Directive?
Why it’s important
Advanced care planning benefits everyone: you, your family, carers and health professionals.
- It helps to ensure you receive the care you actually want
- It improves ongoing and end-of-life care, along with personal and family satisfaction
- Families of people who have undertaken advanced care planning have less anxiety, depression, stress and are more satisfied with their care
- For healthcare professionals and organisations, it reduces unnecessary transfers to acute care and unwanted treatment
Planning is for everyone
Everyone should consider advanced care planning, regardless of age or health. Ideally, you should start planning when you're healthy - before there's actually an urgent need for a plan.
It is particularly important if you:
- are old
- have a chronic illness
- have multiple diseases
- have an early cognitive impairment
- are approaching the end of your life
It's a team effort
Advance care planning requires a team effort. It involves having conversations with your family, friends, doctors, care workers and other health professionals. Having these conversations will help you start thinking about what's important to you.
Learn more about starting the conversation.
The process
Advance care planning doesn't need to be complicated, but it does require careful consideration. It involves thinking about your values and preferences for care and acceptable outcomes, talking about them with others, appointing someone to make decisions on your behalf and documenting everything. Learn more about the advanced care planning process.
Advanced Care Directive
An advance care directive involves documenting your preferences for future care yourself. It can include your values, life goals and preferred outcomes, and directions about care and treatments. You can also formally appoint a substitute decision-maker in an advance care directive.
The process of creating an advance care directive and the names of the required documents vary between states and territories.Advance care directives are legally binding, and the preferences for health care that you document must be followed.
Advanced Care Plan
An advance care plan is created by someone else on behalf of a person with diminished or no capacity to make decisions for themselves. An advanced care plan can include an individual's beliefs, values and preferences in relation to future care decisions. They are often helpful in providing information for substitute decision-makers and health practitioners and may guide care decisions but are not necessarily legally binding. Some states and territories provide forms to help document an advanced care plan for a non-competent person. Learn more about the advanced care planning process.
Not voluntary assisted dying
There are very significant differences between advanced care planning and voluntary assisted dying (VAD). Advance care planning is the process of discussing and choosing future health care and medical treatment options. It is about people making decisions about their medical treatment, including future consent to, refusal or withdrawal of treatment, and substitute decision-making. All people can do advance care planning, and all adults (and children in Victoria) with decision-making capacity are eligible to document an advance care directive. Voluntary assisted dying involves a process to access medication and to enable a person to legally choose the manner and timing of their death. Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws have now been passed in all of Australia's six states - Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland. It is still illegal in the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory as Commonwealth laws currently prevent the Territories from legislating on VAD.
Notification of death
Notification of death
Death notifications are not part of the advanced care planning process. To find information about this, we recommend visiting the Australian Death Notification Service.
Get advice
Contact our National Advance Care Planning Support Service on 1300 208 582 for more information and advice. They are available 9 am – 5 pm, Monday – Friday (AEST).
Rose's Story
Rose was 84; she was dealing with advanced myeloma and had been undergoing twice-weekly blood transfusions and chemotherapy. Her healthcare professionals had advised her that if she ceased her medications, transfusions and chemotherapy, her life would most probably cease in 14 days. Because Rose had an Advanced Health Care Directive plan, should her situation of pain and suffering become dire, there was a plan to guide her children and the medical team to make the tough but necessary decisions to ensure her preferences were respected.
FAQ
Having an Advance Directive is very important. It lets you express your health care wishes in writing and give your family peace of mind. You can do this before you become ill and can also change your plan if your needs change.
You can talk to your physician, lawyer, family members, and other important people in your life about your Advance Directive. It is important to get their opinion on what you would want to happen to you. It is also a good idea to educate yourself about the various treatments and how they affect your body.
If you get a medical illness or are in a hospital, you may not be able to make your own decisions. This could cause your family members to argue about your care. A well-written Advance Directive can help you avoid these issues. It can also give you more control over your death.
There are different forms for advance directives in each state. You can find a link to a form at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s website. You can also download free forms.
Your agent or proxy should be a trusted adult you trust. The agent will be in charge of your health care if you can’t. Your agent should follow the decisions you make when you are still able to make them.
You can give your agent copies of your Advance Directive. You may also want to give them a copy of your current medical records.
One of the most important things to do after you download an advanced care directive form is to read it carefully. You may want to discuss the forms with your physician, hospital staff, or other people involved in your health care. Another thing to consider is how to store the document. We are a private firm that will store your form for a fee. If you decide to do this, you should replace the original with an updated version every year or as your health position dictates.
An Advance Health Care Directive is similar to a Living Will. You are required to list the treatments you want at the end of your life. Usually, this is done by writing your medical preferences on a sheet of paper. Taking the time to do this can provide your loved ones with some comfort. It also gives you the chance to express your values and desires.
The most important things to do to make forms legal is to fill them out compltely, answering every question, sign them in front of a witness and have the forms notarised and stored safely. It is also advisable to make certified copies of your ACD for your family members, your substitute decision-maker and your physician.
Each State may have a different set of ACD forms. If you move between states, you may need to fill out new forms to make sure you are up to date and legally qualify for ACD within the particular state’s statutes and laws you are moving to.
ACD - more than just healthcare
Creating an Advance Care Directive (ACD) is an important part of planning for the future. It allows you to state what you want in the event you become seriously ill. It can give you peace of mind and help your family know what type of care you want.
An Advance Care Directive can be a complex topic, and you may need the assistance of an attorney or a health care professional to make it work. Talk to your doctor and your family to decide which type of document to use.
Advance directives are not intended to be used as a substitute for your wishes, but to provide guidance about what you would like to do in case you can no longer speak for yourself. A document can be a living will, a health care declaration, an instructional directive, a values history, a durable power of attorney for health care, or an end-of-life care plan.
An Advance Directive for Health Care form should be notarized and should be given to your doctor, hospital, and any other health care provider. A copy should also be given to your family and other trusted people.
An Advanced Care Directive should be reviewed periodically. You should make sure that the document reflects any changes in your health, such as the addition of a new medical condition or the passing of a loved one. You should also include instructions for life-prolonging interventions, such as cardiac resuscitation or medically administered food and water.
